NEWS that Carmarthenshire could continue as a stand-alone authority has been welcomed by the county council Leader.
Cllr Kevin Madge said the announcement by the Welsh Labour party was good news for Carmarthenshire.
“I have been campaigning for this for the past few months,” Cllr Madge said. “I am pleased with the initial proposals and look forward to the consultation.”
The announcement follows a meeting of Welsh Labour’s National Executive committee, where they said they would redraw the map of Wales if they won the next Welsh Assembly elections.
A party spokesman said: “The Welsh Labour Executive committee today considered the Williams Commission’s map of 12 local authorities – with Swansea, Carmarthenshire and Powys as they currently are – and will conduct a further three month period of consultation within the party upon the map.”
The Williams Commission report, by former NHS Wales chief executive Paul Williams, considered where areas of public services could be improved and made more accountable.
It recommended that there should be a merger of most local authorities with only Carmarthenshire, Swansea and Powys remaining unchanged.
However, the report said it was also an option for Carmarthenshire to merge with Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion to reform the old Dyfed.
Cllr Madge added: “There has been a question mark hanging over us for the past few months, which has made it difficult to plan ahead with any certainty.
“For instance, we need to recruit new directors shortly and this would certainly be affected if we were to merge.
“We have two very ambitious programmes – the Carmarthenshire Homes Standard and the Modernising Education Programme – which would be affected, almost certainly detrimentally, by any merger.
“Following the consultation, I hope we can then proceed with these major investments, with delivering our policies and our plans for service improvements.
“I firmly believe that this is the best option for the people of Carmarthenshire and reassure them of our commitment as an administration to high quality services, open and transparent government, and investment in jobs and our communities.”
Help keep news FREE for our readers
Supporting your local community newspaper/online news outlet is crucial now more than ever. If you believe in independent journalism, then consider making a valuable contribution by making a one-time or monthly donation. We operate in rural areas where providing unbiased news can be challenging. Read More About Supporting The West Wales Chronicle
